Andrew Meehan of Keats Grayshott comments on an increasingly important factor in the property market

Moving For Schooling



Forget about April showers, in the property market it's the brainy season. In homes across the nation students are gearing up for important examinations. But further down the education time line parents of younger children are also being put to the test. Whether one agrees with the schools' selection system or not, today a postcode can have as much to do with where a child attends primary or secondary school as their academic potential.

Whilst parents may not always be able to influence their offspring's ability as much as they would like, they certainly can influence where their child is educated. Moving to a favoured school's catchment area can certainly increase a child's chances of getting a place at that school. But there are some important steps to take before making the move.

It is essential to check with the local education authority about their criteria for placement before making any major decisions. Then it's best to speak to a chosen school and ask them the same question. Once confident that the school of choice will have availability then moving home may very well be worth doing.

Applying in plenty of time for a place is very important so this is the time of year that anxious parents consider a location that promises the best education for their child. After all, selling an existing property and buying a new one does take time.

But it is not just the primary and secondary sector that is testing parents right now. Those with offspring going to university also have some important homework to do. Student accommodation is expensive and for parents who intend to purchase a flat or small house, both for investment and accommodation purposes, now is the time to be looking. City centre flat prices are just about as low as they go right now and this is a great time to get into the market.

Whatever the requirements for a child's education the sensible move is to talk to a good local estate agent – perhaps one of parental age who has lived in the area for some time. He or she will be able to give a huge amount of useful information about neighbourhoods, security, transport, lifestyle and, of course, housing.

In the meantime if you have particularly strong feelings about the state schools' selection system or about university fees, loans and grants very soon there is an ideal opportunity to have your say in the government's very own examination room - the polling station!

Autumn Market Comment from Andrew Meehan of Keats Grayshott

The Ballon Goes Up

Andrew Meehan of Keats (Grayshott) looks into the options presented by the property market this autumn and the effects of a changing mortgage market

In the same month that a helium balloon in Colorado made its famous flight - without its supposed young passenger - the balloon also went up in the UK regarding mortgage lending, not that this generated quite so much global publicity. The news that the Financial Services Authority was to hold banks and other mortgage lenders responsible for their conduct in providing funds for house buyers was, however, met at the same time with both partial agreement and sharp criticism.

Some were pleased that no one would now be able to borrow beyond their means. Others were anxious that this would be yet another factor to help stall the market – along with VAT going up, the Stamp Duty holiday coming to an end, the general election next year and a new taste for austerity that might deter buyers from moving up market.

Some commentators predicted that the market would go into the dreaded double dip and there were even those that predicted Armageddon – especially, like the builders of the Colorado balloon, those that wanted to seek some extra publicity for themselves.

The reality will probably be less headline-making. All the above factors may have a slowing effect on the market. There may be less choice and this could keep prices artificially high. But even the most pessimistic headline grabber must agree that the market shouldn't return to its position of last year. The factor that the doomsayers always seem to neglect is human nature. We are an ambitious species and those in our islands are an ambitious people. We like to better ourselves. We like to invest for the future and, if possible, for our children's future.

As for the FSA, not to agree that some sort of onus should be put on the banks to lend in a responsible manner rather suggests that they should act irresponsibly. It was irresponsible banks with irresponsible lending policies that partly got us into all this financial mess in the first place. As the banks seem to have forgotten how to demonstrate fiscal responsibility it must surely then be up to others to ensure they do.

Banks and building societies telling us what we could and couldn't borrow served us well for hundreds of years before the customers' financial wellbeing was overtaken by greed. That we return to those days of responsible banks and lending should be a comforting frustration for most house buyers, even if it does mean some may have to save a little longer and the steam will be taken out of the market for a while.

But the problem with this new regulation is that it may well go too far. It will make it harder for the self-employed to obtain a mortgage without established proof of earnings. This is unhelpful at a time when we should surely be encouraging brave new initiatives and entrepreneurs. Those with self-certification mortgages - which made up 10% of all mortgages agreed in 2007 – will find it harder to re-mortgage when their fixed terms come to an end. Perhaps just as importantly first time buyers will certainly have to jump through a great many more hoops to buy a property than those who bought over the past twenty years. Cold comfort that their parents may well have experienced the same difficulties, but they at least have had the advantage of seeing their bricks and mortar assets accumulate at an extraordinary rate – albeit with a couple of glitches on the way.

We are entering a new era of mortgage lending. It will take a while for things to settle down but one thing does seem certain: for those with the funds and the ambition investing in property is still one of the soundest investments we will make for ourselves and our families, and that is worth getting the balloons out for.

Andrew Meehan F.N.A.E.A
Partner
Keats (Grayshott), Estate Agents
Tel: 01428 604016 Fax: 01428 604366 Web: www.keats.biz
Offices in Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire & London

Autumn Market Comment from Andrew Meehan of Keats Grayshott

Buy, Hold or Sell'

Andrew Meehan of Keats Grayshott looks into the options presented by the property market this autumn.

Just like the stock market there is a right time in the property market to buy, hold or sell. But, unlike the stock market, buying property is usually allied to selling, so a clear financial advantage is harder to anticipate or achieve. Despite the turbulence of the past year the market now, against all odds, is rather good for selling. Here's why.

Figures just out show that the rental market is reaching some sort of equilibrium, with the numbers of available properties having dropped over the past six months or so. This is an important indicator. It suggests that those owners who couldn't sell their homes in the recession, and were thus letting them instead, have now begun to find buyers. This erosion of inventory in the rental sector indicates a new dynamic in the sales sector.

Over the course of the year buyers have been snapping up those properties priced keenly to sell. These bargain seekers have, in the main, been cash buyers or those with sufficient funds to require only a small mortgage. Now two things have happened in the market. Cash buyers are drying up along with the bargains. In many areas prices have been rising to reflect the paucity of available stock.

Will more property become available over the coming months as home-owners see more chance of a sale' Would a greater supply of property for sale suppress, or even reverse, some surprising price advances of the past few months' These questions are hard to answer in an economic environment that threatens greater job losses and higher taxation.

We are now in an all-important political party conference season. Those of us in the property industry and those whose plans include buying and/or selling property over the coming months are busy analysing how the policies of an aspiring new government may affect the property market. Taxing 'mansion' owners, repealing Home Information Pack legislation, and providing more social housing: these are all suggested new ideas.

What good, if any, these measures will have is difficult to see just now. But the real drivers of the property market are deaths, births, confidence and taxes. Any incoming government next year can't do too much about the first two. But how they manage the latter pair will be crucial to them and to us.

So what to do now to make the most of this market before the general election and even Christmas' Why, sell of course. But if there is a property to buy as well it really does not matter too much in the financial scheme of things. What surely does matter is that you and your family are happy and safe in the home you have or the home you buy. These are always the best reasons to determine whether to buy, hold or sell and no market or political party, whatever their policies, will ever change that.

Andrew Meehan F.N.A.E.A
Partner
Keats (Grayshott), Estate Agents
Tel: 01428 604016 Fax: 01428 604366 Web: www.keats.biz
Offices in Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire & London

Market Comment from Andrew Meehan of Keats

A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma

Andrew Meehan of Keats in Grayshott looks into the puzzling state of the property market this autumn and finds that, despite the conflicting signs, there is reason to be very optimistic.

What exactly is happening to the property market at the moment' In many parts of the UK August has been one of the most active on record and this following a rather busy July. So, after the dark and dreadful credit crunch months, what on earth is going on' After all the 'property experts' seem to think that the market could take years to pick up again.

This underlines the fact that nobody can really be a true expert forecaster in property. We can expertly deal with the market we are in, and skilfully help buyers and sellers to make the best of the prevailing conditions. But to try and out-guess the property market is an entirely different proposition.

So if we aren't going to be foolish enough to try to foretell the future, at least we can try to understand the present. What the gurus couldn't factor in was the behaviour of the British house buyer and seller. Neither group is silly. Homeowners understand that there is a strong chance the market has hit the bottom and now the only way is up. So the longer they wait the more they may get for their property. Buyers, on the other hand, are keen to buy now as they anticipate that this is the perfect time to purchase. Indeed, latest figures show that residential property is now at its most affordable for thirteen years.

The recent property activity is a riddle, and the mystery of where things will go next does lie within the enigma that is the market. But one thing we do know: those astute buyers and sellers do understand a thing or two about supply and demand. Reluctant sellers mean a dearth of property coming onto the market and that, in turn, is stimulating a level of activity that is now causing competition between many buyers. Hence the recent surge in property activity. In some areas this means multiple offers and even rising prices.

So, what a great position to be in. Don't sell and you will make money. Buy now and you will make money. It's win-win and that is a concept that should be no riddle, mystery or enigma to anyone.

Andrew Meehan F.N.A.E.A

Partner
Keats (Grayshott), Estate Agents
Tel: 01428 604016 Fax: 01428 604366 Web: www.keats.biz
Offices in Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire & London

6th August 2009

Market Comment from Andrew Meehan of Keats

A Giant Leap

On the 40th Anniversary of the moon landing Andrew Meehan of Keats in Grayshott thinks that taking a "Giant Leap" in today's property market may be a very good step indeed.

Forty years ago three brave men risked their lives to make a giant leap for mankind. The Apollo X1 mission to put a man on the moon, and go where no man had gone before, held the planet in thrall. It was the end of the '60s and Britain had swung for almost a decade. But, as a counterpoint to the successful moon landing, back on earth the wheels were coming off. The decade-long free spending party had come to an end.

So, no change there then - particularly as none of us really knows now what is going to happen next, any more than we did in the early '70s. But life and economics appear to have come full circle.

The property market is certainly going where it has never gone before. We are in un-chartered territory with the market very finely balanced indeed. On one hand it could remain on its present - albeit shallow - upward trajectory. On the other we could experience the double bounce or 'W' shaped recession, about which some economists and media commentators seem keen to remind us.

From a property market point of view there seems little doubt that although there is a large question mark hanging over where the market may go next, either way, now seems a good time for home movers. If the recovery continues, the rate of increase in property values should ultimately rise. So now would be a very good time to buy. Were the market to slip back and values slide then it would be a smart move to sell. Moving home always features profit and loss - the financial advantage of selling almost always cancels out the disadvantage of buying, or vice versa depending on the market.

The first six months of this year have defied most market predictions. Activity has been high, and in some places demand has even exceeded supply. That was not in the script, but is a welcome sign of tentative market recovery. So too is the news from the house builders that they are seeing their best sales results in three years.

Buying property in this market may seem to some like a giant leap into the unknown: not quite like risking one's life and flying to the moon for the first time, but a bold step nevertheless. However, when weighed against some of the good signs of recovery then the bold move now may very well prove to be the shrewd one.

Andrew Meehan F.N.A.E.A

Partner
Keats (Grayshott), Estate Agents
Tel: 01428 604016 Fax: 01428 604366 Web: www.keats.biz
Offices in Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire & London